escape.

kudos pple! i noe my blog has been rather stagnant. my taiwan entries are really really delaying all my ltr posts. guess my lappie is really waving e white flag after my multiple photo loading for day 1 & 2 & 3. so today's shall jus be all words.

min joined me n belle for work last wed. (: we had our jogging session held every thursday evening n gathering with cand every friday evening. i'll definitely continue with w jogging since belle n min nid training for their upcoming shape run. jiayou!! [p/s: e onli reason y i didnt take part is cos of e hideous lookin nike PINK-COLOURED tee i'll be getting. n they onli have L size. ): ] i'm so gonna take part in e standard chartered marathon n get e adidas tee!!! :D had food court n mos for our dinner gatherin last fri. n xinwang plus secret recipe cakes last last fri. luv s.r's almond cake!! but all this is makin me uber fat. so i nid to jog MORE n drink MORE plain water.

went to develop my tw photos with denise finally last sun. we went for our jog b4 gettin e photos. spend almost 50 bucks on e 230 pics while denise spent like 80 bucks. hahas.

continue my fated to love you drama marathon after stoppin for so many weeks. totally addicted to it. had been sleepin at 0200hr almost everyday for e past 1 week jus to watch 3 episodes every nite. (: n i get ultra sleepy every afternoon at work. lol. finally completed e series today. luv e ending n e entire storyline. (:

went to sign a 3 mth contract for my 3rd job which will be startin next sun ytd. (: many pple have been tellin me to take care of myself n stuff. i'll. (: jus tt i wanna earn more money n get myself occupied meanwhile. maybe more workload will be a better solution for me.

yupps. tt's all abt wat happened for e past 2 weeks. await for my 4th day @ taiwan. PATIENTLY. cos e server cn get really stuck up at times. till then. (:

naruwan taiwan. day 3 (:

had our usual morning call at 0700hr on e 3rd day.

but we had to pack our luggage to leave sunworld dynasty. ):

our grp photo outside our rooms. (:

my 2nd n last hearty breakfast in sunworld dynasty.

it's REALLY alot of food.

fried rice, fish, egg, bread = CARBO. hahas.

after breakfast, we headed down to the lucky charm centre. (aka qi lin guan)

did some fortune telling for free. :D

they could tell my character jus usin my birthdate n lookin at my chinese name.

realised tt i lacked e water element. gt

n ALL of us gt "tricked" into buyin e qi lin for NT 1K plus.

if seeing is believing, hearing is believing for us tt day. haha.

the wood element which randy lacked.

nw i noe y he owned green pants. lols.
hmm. maybe i shld buy more black clothes too. hahas.

we headed down to five cents driftwood restaurant for lunch when none of us were hungry at all.

but it's a really great place to dine cos e entire restaurant itself is an artpiece.

designed specially by its owner, an artist, each five cent restaurant branch has a different building sturcutre.

was kinda excited to be there since i'd seen e restaurant on tv for many times n i was FINALLY there. (:

wu jiao chuan ban. (:

heard from randy abt e story behind e origin of this restaurant's name.

e owner was ponderin abt e name in a beach when she discovered a piece of driftwood with a 5 cent coin stuck in btw e splints.

tt sparked off e name. lols.

there's a total of 3 storeys.

all linked via stairs.

but their staircases is really scary.

each step is seperated by a huge hole.

great ambience.


some art pieces made n painted by e owner herself. (:


so.. we CAMWHORE!!
aint we look like another masterpiece?
cn blend in with e background so well. hahas.


our 6-course lunch came.
n we are STILL nt hungry by then.
but we ate nonetheless.
felt darn darn bloated by then ):
but i enjoyed drinking their soup. yummy.
n their speciality: milk muai chee.
cn feel reminiscence in my tongue. hahas.


accomplishment!
for eating so much food all by ourselves. (:



we continued to camwhore after lunch.
e entire building is really intriguing.



5 cents driftwood is missed. ):

we headed down to e national taiwan democracy memorial hall after lunch.

it was changed to zi you guang chang by president chen durin his regime.

luckily president ma is changin it back. (:

spectacular structure.

e sun gt really strong tt afternoon.

so esther, denise n me put on our sunglasses.

grp photo (:

me n some temple-liked structure.

it's e sort of scene u'll see on those typical dynasty/ palace drama serials.

hahas.

onli then was i shocked to realise it's actually a national theater.

faints*

mermaid out of water?

discovered this beautiful bridge n lake.

a very olden day type of scene.

we were lucky to meet tw students as there was an event held tt day.

dont they looked like they were doing taji?

in fact, they were all rehearsing for mass dance.

using a-mei's version of ah li shan as background music. lols.

looked at e no of steps we had to climb to reach e top.

heard from randy there's a total of 89 steps.

FAINTS*

we made it up there nonetheless!

n took a photo with sun yat-sen. hahas.

e founding father of tw. (:

me with my unkempt hair.

e wind jus got stronger n stronger.

luv this can-can photo!

on our way to tai-chung from taipei, took this random shot off e street.

taipei railway station.

we went past xiao ju dan!!

went down to ximending for SHOPPING. as usual, randy gave us a very short period of time to shop. ): we made used of all e time we had n scurried off to e shops. e clothes there are much more xpensive as compared to wu fen pu. some shops dont allow for bargainin of prices somemore. ): nonetheless, i bought a white bag, 1 shorts, 1 blouse there. it was rumoured tt xiaogang from energy was at ximending tt day too. if only it was xiaozhu/aaron/ethan instead. hahas.

next off, we headed down to e lingzhi specialty shop n almost fell asleep hearing them talk abt e uses of lingzhi n drank some lingzhi tea. hahas.

reached jin yong quan hot spring resort in late evening after a dinner of shabu-shabu.
ate pretty little for dinner since lunch was so filling.


e rest of them changed into their switsuits for hot spring while i cn onli stayed onshore.
unlucky me n denise's mum. ):
could onli soak my legs in e water. ):


so meanwhile they soaked n tried out different flavoured pools,
me n denise's mum camwhored ard e spa resort.



we found a open space cafe on e 2nd storey of e resort.
n e nite view is really splendid!

it's a pity i didnt bring along my phone.
enjoyed my 3rd day as usual. (:

await more for day 4!! :D

naruwan taiwan. day 2 (:

24 march 2009
after a few hours of sleep uopn return from ytd's kbox, i was awaken by e hotel morning call, my phone alarm n finally esther's call. blushes* guess i was pretty tired from all e singing e nite b4.
after washing up, met e rest for breakfast downstairs. n it's one of e most hearty breakfast i'd eaten in ages. look at e photo below n u'll understand y. esp for someone who had drank milo for breakfast for e past 12yrs. lol.

my 1st hearty breakfast in taiwan!

cranberry juice with papaya, soba, cornflakes + milk, egg n springroll. (:

after breakfast, we met randy at e foyer b4 boardin e tour bus to:

martyrs shrine! (zhong lie ci)

and there is alot alot of tour buses n PEOPLE.

all waitin for e changing of guards' procession ceremony which takes place at 0900hr everyday.

as usual, i didnt get to see much. ):

luckily e crowd went off after e ceremony n we managed to take photos with e guards.

accordin to randy, we have to take photo with both guards.
cos they may get upset if we jus take with one. lol.
so we posed for 2! hahas.
p/s: this is a better lookin guard than e previous one. :D

me at e entrance.
notice e whole lot of pple far behind me?
yup. tt's e amt of pple who were standin at e entrance jus nw.

e martyrs shrine really have nice structures.

nice stucture 2.


nice stucutre 3.


nice stucture 4.
took all these shots along my walk from e entrance into strucutre 4.
day 2 is cold n windy as usual n there is even a drizzle.
so photos were taken painstakingly.
my hands were shakin from all e wind too. lol.


from left: lili, denise n me (:


finally walked into structure 4 n took a pic b4 e guards started to march out.



a really close up photo by denise.
i managed to capture e march out of e guards from e shrine to e entrance. (:
stood really really close to them, esp e guy in suit.
whose onli role is to wipe sweat for e guards on duty n tidy their uniforms.
yup. their army uniform is really different from ours.
heard from randy tt those helmets wore had been passed down for many many generations.
wonder wat e interior of those helmets smelled like. haha.


e new guards on duty in e shrine.
this is guard no.1.


n guard no.2 !
as usual, nid to take with both. haha.



hahas.
me n denise aint e focus in e pic.
denise's mum n her umbrella is. lol.


after much posing n watchin e march out, we droveby:
the grand hotel where randy allowed us to pose for pics.
heard tt it was a temple before being converted into a hotel.
n a one night's stay there cn easily cost up to 2-3k tw currency?

our tour group photo!

from left front row: me, lili, est n shat-yin. ( yup. we looked exceptionally short.)

from left back row: e china son & mum, sally n e funny "mao" uncle, denise's mum n her plus another uncle n auntie.

chiufen street*

next stop: we went to yu xuan fang where they intro some green tea powder to us. this green tea powder was said to aid digestion n cn help to shed fats. had e urge to buy onli to realise tt it's darn ex. 2 jin/ 8 liang costed 8k tw currency. faints*

then we headed to the national palace museum (gu gong) to see mainly 2 famous pieces from the ch'ing dynasty palaces: jadeite cabbage n dong po meat. these 2 exhibitions were handcrafted by artists from pieces of jades n they really looked like e real cabbage n meat. it's a pity cameras werent allowed. ):

after which, we went down to chiufen after a ride up a mountain. e drizzle continued and we started shoppin for local delicacies n food to bring back home. went to ah xin de dian to shop for muai chee, jelly, cuttlefish, taiyang biscuits. some of them bought so much tt they had them packed into boxes. lol. bought key chains for my frens over at chiufen too. tried their saucy noodles, fen yuan n lu rou fan for lunch. yummy! (:

along the way down from chiufen to taipei 101,

randy sang some songs to entertain us. (:

taipei 101!!!

group shot (:

didnt take e elevator up since e drizzle created fog. ):

n it's an expensive ride up- 400 tw currency.

so we stood outside e tower after tourin ard e interior, waiting for e tour bus.

almost gt frozen to death by e deadly chill gusts of wind.

after taipei 101, we headed to our shopping haven: wu fen pu wholesale market!!!

randy onli gave us 1.5hrs to shop n we bargained till 2hrs with him.

still, it isnt enough for us. there is TOO MUCH to see.

TOO MUCH to buy!!

bought loads of stuff there. 1 dress, a few tees n blouses.

i think i cn spend a day there shopping n lookin at e clothes.

hahas. we were all too busy shopping to camwhore e wholesale market. :P

after which, we headed down to shilin nite market for dinner. (:

shilin nite market was different from other nite market cos it's in a builiding.

gt pretty disappointed. was expectin a long stretch of street or smth.

nonetheless, we had great food tt nite: e smelly tofu above, oyster omelette, tw sausage.

nt to forget randy's supersized chicken fillet.

shilin nite market food stalls.

e shop where randy purchased e supersized chicken fillets.

see e long queue!!

their fillet is so huge tt it's bigger than a person's face. (quoted from randy)

he even tell us to xchange if we realise it's smaller than our own faces. lol.

bought a papaya milkshake to try after eatin e chicken fillet.

we headed down to e street across shilin to shop for clothes after dinner.

e street across shilin. (:

it's really a hustle n bustle there.

bought 3 t-shirts n shopped ard b4 headin back to gather.

realise tt tw's traffic is realli bad.

couldnt understand their pedestrain crossin at all. lol.

headed back to sunworld dynasty after a long day out.

end of day 2. await more for day 3!! :D